Wednesday night I found myself at the gym on the Arc Trainer. Flipping through channels right around 8. And there, staring at me, was Tyra.
America’s Next Top Model.
And I was confused. I watched the first few episodes of the season, right? Then what happened? Why did I stop watching?
Then I remembered. When I got home from my Savannah trip last month, our DVR died. (We lost almost every premiere that I needed to watch – except I watched Grey’s before it crashed. I was not happy.) And with our DVR went the recording schedule.
As I was trekking away on the machine, I thought about what else I hadn’t been watching in the last month. No Top Model. Or Top Chef. Or Project Runway. Or the show after Project Runway. Shows I thought I needed to see. Shows I thought I enjoyed.
And I wasn’t missing them. At all.
I hadn’t even realized I was missing them.
Did I even like them at all? Why was I spending all that time with them if I really wasn’t interested or enjoying them.
I started thinking. I had the epiphany about the Starbucks drinks a while back. I realized I don’t really like the frozen yogurt at the hospital. The last time I had pizza I thought it had too much cheese on it. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had my beloved Southwestern Chop Chop Salad, and I haven’t even thought about it.
I wonder what else is similar in my life. What do I think I like – that I think I have to have, that I can’t live without – that are really just mediocre? The things I sometimes crave – sweet and sour chicken from some strip mall restaurant, chicken minis from Chick-Fil-A, white chocoalte and cranberry cookie from the cookie cart – are they really that great? Would I really miss them if I just stopped thinking about them? Or are they like Top Model – nice to have around when they fit in my plan, but not worth missing or even noticing when they don’t?
So I’m going to try really hard to use this as my measuring stick for everything I eat or everything I think I might want to eat- especially my splurges. Do I really even want this?
Is this food a Grey’s Anatomy/Criminal Minds/Psych or is it a Top Model/Project Runway?
And what foods would I not miss if they were gone?
(P.S. I find today’s post title particurarly funny. Anyone make the connection?)
I hear you! I often drink soda not because I crave it, but because it is there. It comes with a fast food meal. But truly, I grew up without it and never really acquired a taste for it. If it was completely gone, I would never miss it.
Thank you for the insight and reminding us all to be more cognizant of our choices!
d.i.
GREAT post. And the song… took me a minute to place the lyric. You know when you know you know the song (holy confusing sentence batman) but you can’t think of the tune? Yeah that was me. I read your post like 10 minutes ago… and it just came to me. “I ain’t missin you at all (missin you…) since you’ve been gone…” Have I told you how much I love your lyric titles? Yeah… I still do! Hysterical!!
I can totally relate to this… Our decoder broke almost a year ago and we decided not to replace it. We’ve been television-free ever since (we watch movies a few nights a week) and we don’t miss it at all! Not the Formula 1 racing, not Grey’s, not Survivor, nothing!
Similarly, when I decide that a food no longer serves me, I don’t miss it. I might have it at my parents’ once in a while, and I’d enjoy it, but I don’t crave it afterwards.
Dude, I love the way you think about things. No junk food or junk TV!